Shera R. Sever: Igniting the Spark™

Starting my career in the “non-profit” sector over 25 years ago, I’ve always been a huge advocate of social entrepreneurship, and an evangelist for learning and social profit leadership models. I was very encouraged to see Social Entrepreneurship Goes Mainstream as a feature article in last month’s issue of Ode Magazine.

Social entrepreneurs are change agents and pioneers for humanity who have merged their business, service and life purpose to benefit disadvantaged communities and ultimately society at large.

“Social entrepreneurs never let a crisis go to waste. These visionary leaders take this economic upheaval to be a blessing, providing a chance for business to transition from an anonymous, complex system to one that is direct and transparent.” Ode Magazine, March, 2009

I believe Social Entrepreneurship is where we all need to be focusing our business development models. It’s no longer about you  OR me, but about WE and the cooperative advantage, rather than the competitive advantage. It’s about our personal visions and our business mission serving the greater good along with sustainable practices and metrics.

“In a world where change is escalating exponentially, the only way we’ll make it is if everyone has the mindset of a social entrepreneur.”-Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka

2009: The Year of the Awakened Entrepreneur In my  January, 2009 Leading Visions to Action e-zine, I declared 2009 the Year of the Awakened Entrepreneur and listed some criteria that I believe need to be part of the mindset of entrepreneurship in these rapidly changing times. There is more need and more opportunity than ever before for Awakened Entrepreneurs. As Joanna Macy provokes us in her book,  World as Self, World as Lover,“What will you tell your great, great grandchildren you did during the Great Turning?”

So in this period of innovation and reinvention, how can you merge your life purpose and what you stand for with a business for the greater good?

Who are your power partners within  your community and network?
Do you need support in clarifying your vision, purpose, strategy, and content marketing?
What arising needs do you see your business fulfilling?

Authenticity is the key buzz word in the world of marketing. Clean, lean, and transparent systems that are both inward facing (internal partners/staff), and external facing (clients and community) is what we all need to be aiming for and creating.

The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world-we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep,to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.

-Joanna Macy, author World as Self, World as Lover

The Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Initiative held it’s second Global Gathering on the campus of Mills College in Oakland, CA on June 26-29.

Nearly 200 committed facilitators (including me) from four continents ,along with guest speakers Lynne Twist, Brian Swimme, and Joanne Macy , among others, gathered to re-affirm, apply, and expand our commitment to an environmentally sustainable, socially just, spiritually fulfilling presence on this planet as the guiding principle for these times.

The Global Gathering re-ignited in me what really is important – and what I am committed to- on a personal, professional, and collective level.

It’s easy to forget that real change begins with changing oneself.

At the conference, all of us felt and agreed that this is a most amazing time to be alive, that we don’t have all the answers, and that in fact, we may or may not be successful in creating the personal and collective changes that must take place now.

If we focus our actions on cooperation, not competition, on doing more with less, (and perhaps on DOING less and BEING more), heal our addictions to consumption, and re-claim the role of world citizen founded on interdependence and respect for the dignity of all life,we may be able to “turn the wheel” towards sustainable solutions.

Turning the Wheel. . .

• WHAT can I start doing today and the rest of the year to bring more cooperation and collaboration into the company culture, our teams, client relations, and communities?
• WHO am I mentoring? WHO are my mentors?
• WHO are my”emPower partners?” Is there a team, a social network, forum, panel, or consortium that can be formed with “competitors”?
• WHAT is my role and contribution to the “Great Turning”?
• What will future generations learn from and do with your contributions?